I have some very exciting news for you all. During the past couple of months you have heard rumors about upcoming fishing tournaments. Yes, I can now confirm that you will not only have ONE tournament, over the 2012-2013 season you will have a chance to compete in a series of tournaments on the RWFF Forum. Sounds good? Read On!

WHAT DOES VFFL STAND FOR?

VFFL stands for "Virtual Fly Fishing League". To give you a little background about VFFL and it's formation I will tell you a short story. A few months ago, Marc, a new member from New Mexico, joined our RWFF Forum and brought with him some great ideas. Noting that RWFF has gone quite stale over the past year he had some ideas on how to revitalize the members interests...competition and participation.

During the past year the RWFF Forum was kept barely alive by a host of loyal members like Badger, who made many great posts on fishing and catches. Martin, who produced many outings even when interest was very low. I tried to post a couple of outings and helped the newbies with technical problems and lately, Roger, who returned after an extended period without a working computer, made some great posts. To be honest, 2011-2012 was nothing to write home about, as they say.

With Marc contagious enthusiasm and practical ideas everyone got quite excited about things that we can do to make RWFF better and more interesting. We exchanged many emails and talked about many ideas but the consensus at the end of the day was that we should re-established the long forgotten RWFF Contest, or Tournaments. Contest always brought out the competitive instinct in members and it is fun for a group of people to compete together from time to time. Hence we came up with the idea of the VFFL League. Everyone got very excited and we were ready to launch this new idea on the Forum with Paul's consent and blessing.

Sadly Marc had some sudden personal health problems and had to withdraw from this project with a very short notice. After licking our wounds a bit we have decided to forge ahead with this idea and hence we have VFFL. I hope Marc will return one day and will be able to join us and enjoy the fruit of his brainchild with us. Thanks Marc and we wish you all the best!

WHAT IS VFFL AND WHAT DOES IT DO?

VFFL is the sponsoring body for RWFF contests and tournaments. The name Virtual Fly Fishing League implies that it is an ongoing, a serial event. (rather than a one time event). Our idea was that through VFFL we will sponsor a series of tournaments for the year 2012-2013. Depending on members' interest and participation, we envision at least one tournament every two months. There will will a minimum of six tournaments for the 2013 calendar year. We can certainly consider putting on more tournaments events if members showed enough interest for them. There will be a "VFFL Grand Champion" award at the end of the 2013 calendar year. The winner will receive a very special prize plus the right to brag about himself for the next year. To determine the Grand Champion, points will be award to the individual event winners. The points scales are as follows:

5-3-2-1, 5 points to the winner, 3 points to the second place finisher and so forth. At the end of the year the member with the most points will be awarded the Grand Champion prize.

To make things even better and more interesting for everyone, I have asked John Bailey, the owner of the world famous Dan Bailey Flyshop located in Livingston, Montana to donate one $100 and two $50 gift vouchers to use as tournament prizes. Paul also indicated that he will donate a couple of RWFF software and also his new 2012-2013 Fly Fishing Calendar to our tournament winners! My friend Harry Lam, who makes all the silver trophies for our local events has agreed to donate a small sterling silver trophy to be award to our 2012 Grand Champion! How sweet can it be?

Paul will be sending out his Christmas flyer next week and he will notify his old clients about VFFL tournaments. This may bring back some of the older members who still loves RWFF and competition. I can't wait to see how many people will actually sign up to compete in the tournament series.

WHO WILL RUN THE VFFL?

VFFL will be managed by a committee consisting of Yellowstone7, Scottish Warrior, and Boston Bob. Roger (rwwalleye) will be the Administrator for VFFL Events Sticky. The VFFL committee will be responsible for the setting up of the tournaments, verification of tournament results and to handle disputes in the rare event that there is one. Roger will be responsible for posting tournament notices, updating tournamant results and other matter related to VFFL. In the event of a dispute, the decision of the VFFL committee will be final.

WHAT KIND OF TOURNAMENTS WILL WE HAVE?

Over the 2012-2013 season, we envision having all types of tournaments. There will be some "stipulated" tournaments where everyone will use the same tackle and leader size. There will be a "no holds barred", everything goes tournament where the biggest fish will be the winner. There might be some combined challenges where two or more outings will be used and the person with the highest points will win. Smallest and biggest fish tournaments. In short we will try to make the tournaments a test of your skill and patience.

A SPECIAL CHRISTMAS TOURNAMENT COMING YOUR WAY

I have been working on the "Congo River" outing for the past couple of months (originally intended for a VFFL event) and we will use that as our first end of the year tournament. We will call it a Christmas Tournament if you will. The Congo outing features beautiful landscape, the awesome Goliath Tiger fish and should raise the hair on the back of your neck when you hook into one. This outing will be a "stipulated" tournament where everyone will use the old V.128 rod and leader settings. e.g. Maximum size 12 rod and 0x leader. I do this to give everyone a chance to become the winner. Many of our members have not upgrade their RWFF to V.133 (with the biggest rod and leader size) and this will make the turf even for everyone. Please keep your eyes on the VFFL Events thread for the final tournament announcements.

Rules and restrictions will be set up on a per event basis as every tournament is slightly different. This will be announced in detail before the event.

HOW DO I SIGN UP FOR VFFL?

To sign up is easy! Just send you name and the place where you live, e.g. Country or State, to Roger (rwwalleye) by PM or email. The earlier you sign up the more we will know what kind of tournaments to put on. PLEASE DO THIS RIGHT NOW!

A COUPLE OF IMPORTANT POINTS

To compete in the VFFL tournaments, you must first sign up with VFFL. You must post your catches and scores on the RWFF Forum for everyone to see. If you don't know how to do that please contact me and I will help you.

Please DO NOT make posts in the VFFL Events Sticky. We want to keep this thread exclusively for tournament announcements and score keeping. Your cooperation will be greatly appreciated!

If you have any questions please post them here and we will try to answer them as best we can.

It is now 7:00 am and my mind has turned into fossil. That is what I have to say right now. With your help and participation we can make RWFF even better!!

Prizes: We have two prizes to be awarded to the tournament winners. A US$50 merchandise voucher from the Dan Bailey Flyshop to the Challege Mode winner. And a beautiful Flyfisherman 2013 Calendar (donated by Paul) for the Biggest Fish caught winner.

The tournament is in two parts and comes with two prizes. One for the highest total score for the Congo Challenge Mode, and an additional prize for the biggest fish caught.

1) The tournament will be a "stipulated" event. Everyone participating will use the same size tackle. The tackle used will be 10' 12W rod, 0x size leader. This is the maximum size tackle available in V.128. We do this to allow those who have not upgraded to V.131 to have some fun and a chance to compete in the tournament. No smaller rods or leaders allowed.

2) The tournament will be to complete the 9 scene Congo Outing Challenge in Expert Mode. Highest total score wins the tournament.

3)In the unlikely event of a tie. The member who caught the biggest fish in the 9 scene challenge will be the winner.

4)One member can only win one prize. e.g. If you won the Challenge Mode segment then you cannot win the Largest Fish Caught prize. We do this to give other members a chance at winning a prize.

5)To be eligible to win the tournament, you must post your catches and results on the RWFF Forum for everyone to see. You must copy and send your Challenge Mode caught record to Roger for record keeping and verification. The caught record can be found in the "score_log.txt" file in your main RWFF folder.

6)You will have three weeks to complete the tournament. The end date will be set at December 21, 12:00 PM Easter Standard Time (US). Any result turned in after the end time will not be considered for tournament results. The tournament winners will be announce before Christmas Day.

7)In the unlikely event of a dispute, the decision of the VFFL Committee will be final.

That is all I can think of right now. Have fun competing in our first Christmas tournament. Good luck to you all!

It is time to get our 2013 Tournament Season rolling with a brand new outing from Chuck. The outing is called "Adams River, British Columbia" based on the same location in Canada. It is a 7 scene outing with spawning Sockeye Salmon as theme. I think you will all enjoying fishing this very unique outing.

Below you will find the rules and particulars of the tournament. The points that you earn here, 5 points for first place, 3 points of second place, 1 point for third place finish will count as the Championship points towards the year end Grand Champion Title. A very nice prize will be given to the year end winner. If you have not yet signed up with VFFL please do so right now or your points will not count! The entry is entirely free of charge.

Hello all! Its that time! A little competition for you! We're gonna start off with a bit of a twist this time around, as this will not be your typical tournament.

This is a COMPLETE OUTING. Inside the .zip file, you will see 3 folders, the outing folder (Adams River, BC), a fish folder and a food folder. Place the outing in your outing folder in the game. Back in the .zip, open the folder called "fish". Inside you will see 2 folders, Jumping Sockeye Salmon M and Jumping Sockeye Salmon F. Drag both of them into your fish folder in the game. Back in the .zip, open the "food" folder. Inside you will see a few more folders. Drag all the folders into the food folder in-game. You may be prompted to overwrite existing files, just say yes. I only added these files so that everyone has them.

TOURNAMENT OBJECTIVE: In free fishing, you need the TOTAL SCORE of your 3 Largest MALE Sockeye Salmon, ONLY MALES COUNT. But that's not to say the new Females are totally worthless LOL. Bring those girls in too, because in the event of a tie, the first tiebreaker will be your 1 largest FEMALE Sockeye Salmon caught. In the unlikely event that there is still a tie, second tiebreaker is the 2nd Largest FEMALE Sockeye Salmon caught.

BONUS POINTS: Take on the entire 7-site Challenge, and complete in the least amount of time for bonus points towards your Objective total. Awarded points are as follows: 1st place = 10 pts, 2nd place = 5 pts, 3rd place = 2 points. The fastest time to finish the Challenge will win! (Same tackle restrictions as below).

Quick Tip: Pay attention to the Bonus Points! If you are happy with your Objective total, that doesn't exactly mean you're safe. Person X can be happy with his Objective Point total of (for example) 60 pts., while Person Y has 55 points. But Person Y also completed the Bonus Point Challenge in 1st place, giving him 10 more points, meaning he has a grand total of 65 points. So don't ignore the Challenges...give it a shot because you just never know!!

ROD/LINE RESTRICTIONS: All fish MUST be caught with a MAXIMUM of 8 WEIGHT ROD and 3X LEADER. Any heavier WILL NOT COUNT.

DIFFICULTY: Expert Mode[/color]

A nice surprise prize will be given to the tournament winner at the completion of the tourney.

The tournament will officially end at 12:00 PM (midnight) of February 15, 2013 Eastern Standard Time (US). You will need to turn in your catch records to Roger for official verification before the deadline. Any records turned in after the deadline will not be accepted.

We hope your will enjoy this tournament and will post your catch pictures and records on the RWFF Forum to share with everyone. Good Luck and have lots of fun competing in this first 2013 tournament.

Here you will find the information re our June tournament called "Martin's Mad Dash To 1000". Please read the instructions and rules carefully. The outing we have picked for our tournament is called "SW St. Lawrence Sultry Dusk". It is a great outing with fish of varying sizes. You will have lots of fun fishing this one.

The VFFL Tournament committee is proud to announce our VFFL tournament for the month of June. As you can see from the title of tournament this one bears some special significance. Martin, aka "Scottish Warrior", is one of our most, if not the most prolific producer of custom outings for RWFF. The VFFL tournament Committee has decided to honor Martin with this special tournament for his fast approaching 1000th custom outings, made painstakingly and unselfishless, just for our fishing pleasure.

Before I go into the details of the "Martin's Mad Dash to 1000" tournament I think it is important for me to put some interesting points into perspective. To make 1000 RWFF custom outings would take roughly 5000 hours of work if you are fast about it. Simple math would tell us that it would take over 208 days to do it, that is if you never go to sleep and work continously like a robot. Wow! You should be impressed with the stats! At least I am!

Martin, our hats are really off to you for such tremendous love and devotion to our little game and we appreciate everything that you have done for RWFF since you joined over 5 years ago. A huge thanks from all of us who enjoyed this great game.

Now to the tournament part:

1)This will be a Challenge tournament without any restrictions on game mode. Tackle used will be limited to maximum size of 10w rod and 0x leader although you can use smaller tackle if you want. To win the Tournament, you are required to catch the biggest fish/ and to achieve the best score in finishing the Outing Challenge. In order for Roger to verify the caught codes, RWFF V.128 or later should be used.

2)The outing we will use for this special tournament will be one of Martin's great V.133 outings called the "SW St. Lawrence River, Sultry Dusk". It is a beautiful outing full of good size fish and some skilll and patience will be needed to finish the outing challenge with a good score. The highest Challenge score turned in will win the First Prize of this very special tournament.

3)The First Prize with go to the player with the best Challenge Score. A special second prize will also be awarded for the biggest fish caught. However, no one single player can win both prizes at the same time. If you should be lucky enough to end up with the highest Challenge Score, and also the biggest fish caught. The person with the second biggest fish caught will win the Second Prize. We do this to give everybody a chance to win a prize for your fine tournament efforts. All scores and caught records must be turned in to Roger for verification. Please do this as soon as you have achieved a score. You must also post your catches and Challenge Scores on the RWFF to win the tournament.

4)The "Martin's Mad Dash To 1000" tournament will start this weekend on June 8 and will last two weeks. It will end on June 22, 12:00 PM (midnight) United States Eastern Standard Time. No scores turned in after that time will be accepted for tournament results.

5)Stanley will be responsible to round up a couple of special prizes for the tournament winners. They will be something fun and/or useful for our RWFF flyfishers.

6)The points you earn in winning this VFFL tournament will be counted for the Grand Prize at the end of the year. Please turn in your scores and catches to Roger. You'll also need to register with VFFL to participate in this tournament. The sign up is simple and free. Please refer to the VFFL Sticky for details.

7)In case there is a tie, or a rare event of a dispute, the decisions of the VFFL Committee will be final.

That is about it. We hope you will have a lot of fun participating in this very special tournament and if you are good, or lucky, you might even win a great prize.

The RWFF VFFL Tournament Committe.

PS. A special thanks to Chuck LaBruna for coming up with some of the tournament ideas and the catchy title for our June tournament. Last but not least. We wish to thank Martin for his great contributions to our wonderful game.